Alfa Romeo: Zhou Guanyu will stay with team in 2023
Chinese driver Zhou Guanyu will stay with the Alfa Romeo team for a second season in 2023.
Team principal Frederic Vasseur said the 23-year-old had impressed with his work ethic in his debut year after graduating from Formula 2.
Vasseur said: “The way he adapted to Formula 1 in a short time has been one of the best surprises of our season.
“He is a very nice guy, everyone in the team likes both his personality and attitude.”
He added: “He has had the humility to ask questions and learn, and the intelligence to apply all the information he got to improve race after race.
“He will have this experience to draw on next season, and I am sure he will make another step forward as we continue to grow our team.”
Zhou said he was “happy and grateful” to be retained.
“There is more that I want to achieve in this sport and with the team, and the hard work we have put together since the start of the year is just the first step towards where we want to be next season,” he said.
“There is still a lot to learn, a lot to develop, but I am confident in our work: I am looking forward to the next chapter of our story together.”
Zhou has had a solid debut season, contributing six points of the 52 the team have collected to put them sixth in the constructors’ championship with six races remaining.
He has qualified on average just under 0.4 seconds a lap slower than his team-mate, the former Mercedes driver Valtteri Bottas.